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He’s an innocent New York would-be book author (Anton Yelchin). She’s a bored, sophisticated, wandering rich man’s wife, looking for the ideal afternoon delight (Bérénice Marlohe). From that plot outline we might expect a hot ‘n’ sweaty sexual adventure with a smidgeon of social commentary. But what we get is rather tame, in writer-director Victor Levin’s “romantic” character study. Yelchin’s Brian and Marlohe’s Arielle, expertly mismatched, manage to dissipate most of the heat all by themselves, and Levin’s moist (but not moist enough) screenplay is the epitome of lukewarm. Not even the fine support playing of Olivia Thirlby, Frank Langella, and Glenn Close can bail out this frustratingly half-baked love story (97 min.).
ByKelly Vance